Monday 4 February 2002 07.02 EST
First published on Monday 4 February 2002 07.02 EST

The leader of the Liberal Democrat Party, Charles Kennedy, and the author Kate Pullinger are among the experts offering tips on the most useful resources on the internet for a new website for academics and students in the social sciences.

The new site, Expert's Choice, found on the Social Science Information Gateway (SOSIG) is part of Bristol University's institute for learning and research technology.

Academic and other experts in several social science fields were asked to recommend their favourite website and how they found it useful.

Asked to recommend the most useful site for politics, Mr Kennedy chose Guardian Unlimited, the news site of choice for 40% of all MPs, according to a MORI poll last year. "This site is impressive because of its accessible layout, which is neither complex nor confusing," he said. "The site offers many interesting features; a favourite of mine would have to be the debate section, entitled The Talk."

Novelist Kate Pullinger, whose books include The Last Time I Saw Jane, Where Does Kissing End? and, most recently, Weird Sister, said she uses the internet for "research in a haphazard way". Ms Pullinger, who teaches at the Randolph Macon Women's College at the University of Reading, urges budding writers to try the trAce Online Writing School.

"I recently took a course, called introduction to the internet for writers, at the trAce Online Writing School. Through that I learned how to search more efficiently," she said. "TrAce offers online writing courses via discussion boards, email and live chat. Although the school is based in the UK, both students and tutors come from all over the world."

The economics editor of the BBC, Evan Davis, recommends a comprehensive source of financial data at the International Monetary Fund website. He said: "I use it for the data which is available going back a long way on all countries. Try looking at the world economics outlook database section."

Frances Cairncross, chairwoman of the Economic and Social Research Council (one of the funders of the institute) and a senior editor at The Economist is unashamedly partisan in her choice. She flags up the ESRC website - "the best way to discover the huge range of social science research being undertaken in Britain, information on our centres and the work they do and the various conferences and seminars we sponsor".

Andrew Dilnot, director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies, suggests the Official Documents home page. "This site gives quick, free access to government documents," he said. "No longer do we spend hours searching for lost copies of budget documents."